Aerial Direct - Has anyone managed to get out of the contract?

[django90]

Hi 

I have seen muliple posts about Aerial Direct the 'trusted' business partners of 02 on this forum and online. Has anyone been able to sucessfully get out of their contract? I dont need to be told about the business ethics of this company, I have seen the previous posts and have been fooled for a while! 

Any advice please?

[MI5]

@EW1 

They cannot force you to stay beyond your contract end date.

Just be sure not to agree to anymore "new" contracts and you will be able to move back to O2 directly in 12 months time.

[Mustangman]

I was in a Sim only contract with only 1GB of data unlimited calls and texts, the contract is about £20.00 a month if I don't go over my limit, but of course I was always going over my data limit.

The final straw was yesterday 14/05/21, I received my O2 bill, I had made a few calls to America, about 5, the bill came to £178.03 I thought I was allowed some International calls, but apparently not.

I went on the Aerial  Direct web site, at the bottom of the page it tells you how to get a PAC code, STAC code and how to find out how much the buy out is for your contract.

On my mobile I texted INFO to 85075, within a minute O2 sent me a text back, they estimated the buy out to be £253.01 The contract had a further 15months to run till August 2022. I didn't care, I'll cut my losses and move to another provider. I then text PAC to 65075, again within a minute I got a text from O2 and a PAC code. Getting a PAC code automatically cancells a contract. As I have gone a day into my next month, I am expecting a final bill in June.

I have now opened an account with another provider, 120GB data unlimited calls and text. If I want to make international calls, I call the provider first  they will give me international calls for a month at a charge of £10.00 .....Bye bye Aerial thank goodness. 

[MI5]

Your contract with O2 won't end until your new provider ports your number to their network, so you'll have a few days of the new month on your final bill.

[dicktonyboy]

Good luck with that one. It seems that they can contact you with price reductions half way through an existing contract but you can't make changes without penalties. It seems they offer deals to stop the renegociation at the end of a two year period. You just have to sit it out! 😞

[Filomena]

Hi guys

Just a quick update, I have gone through the Ombudsman who has upheld that I was put on the wrong tariff by O2,and that there were elements of mis selling and aggressive sales calls.

My high bill was over £1000, but i also calculated about £1000 more of additional costs and losses of being on the wrong contract and in resolving this matter (such as call transcripts for Ombudsman)

However, the Ombudsman said that they are not lawyers and do not deal with legal matters.

A cursory glance at the Linkedin to the Ombudsman rep reviewing my complaint shows that she was a qualified surf instructor then worked in customer services for a while.

Their suggested resolution so far is a payment of £500 plus moving me onto the right tariff (18 months into a 24 month contract). 

In law, normally where a party has been missold a contract, the damages would include all direct losses and consequential foreseeable losses.

I am appealing the Ombudsman decision but likely to go down small claims court. For anyone else doing this, please read and seek Citizens Advice on the following points. 

- Consumer Protection from Unfair Trading Regulations 2008 

- Consumer Protection (Amendment) Regulations 2014
These cover mis-selling, misleading acts and omissions, and aggressive sales calls (Aerial had been calling me 5 x a day even after i blocked their number, they were ringing on a private number)

Also - normally you would have rights under the Consumer Rights Act 2015 for Aerials failure to act with reasonable care and skill, HOWEVER - despite O2 customer services fobbing you off saying that "your contract is with Aerial not with O2" , as a matter of contract law, in fact, your money is paid by O2, your contract is with O2. Aerial are just a broker for O2 contracts, you do not pay Aerial (probably O2 pay Aerial commission) - therefore your recourse against Aerial comes under law of agency, not law of contract. In brief, the principal (O2) would be liable for the acts of the agent (Aerial). I expect the terms of the agency agreement with Aerial Direct would exclude O2's liability where Aerial has not acted with reasonable care and skill. However, I have spent a couple hours trying to get hold of the agreement so i know for sure which party to take to court, customer services cant help since they arent legal people and just say "oh we thought your contract was with Aerial". No.Aerial broker your contract. that is all. This does not affect you making a claimunder the Consumer Unfair Trading Regs though, and you should also report Aerial to Trading Standards via Citizens Advice (you would not get more money but they can be fined) 

Also, I just found that i had paid my big bill on credit card (really recommend you do the same) so I can potentially reclaim via s.74 of Consumer Credit Act. This would not cover all the losses however, since i had reinstated my direct debit. 

So, my plan of action now is,  appeal ombudsman, then if Aerial do not pay me, letter before action to O2 (asking about law of agency) , letter before action to Aerial Direct. Then ultimately the small claims court. Note that in the courts you can claim interest at 8% on the money you feel you are owed, plus all court fees and limited legal fees. 

I think lots of people are in the same position as me with Aerial Direct. I would say, if you are chump enough to want to use them 
- pay everything on credit card so you have Consumer Credit Act s.74 chargeback option if they mess up
- go through the motions of the internal complaints process, noting it is a circular process where they just deny everything
- NOTE THAT IF YOUR CASE GOES TO THE OMBUDSMAN, AERIAL WILL BE CHARGED £750 ADMIN FEE THEREFORE IF YOU THINK YOU HAVE A CASE, DO NOT SETTLE YOUR COMPLAINT FOR LESS
-Note that the Ombudsman are not legally trained, some are bog standard customer services people , they just deal with Ofcom guidelines. I recommend you go through the Ombudsman - this will be faster than waiting for the HMCTS small claims mediation service, and you can demonstrate to the court that you have taken all avaliable options to resolve. 
- Small claims - use money claim online, very easy. Consider all your direct costs and losses, add interest, if you were on the wrong tariff, add interest to each overpayment. 

I will keep you posted but this long mess has taken 18 months to resolve so far and my contract is 24 months. Also, I have spend many hours sorting this out, compiling documents, researching law . 

REALLY RECOMMEND NOT USING AERIAL DIRECT

[Filomena]

Just to keep everyone updated, the intention is to go to the small claims because they can get me the money i lost out on plus interset, whereas Ombudsman said they cannot apply the same legal principles which would result in a higher award, since they do not deal with matters of law and decide based on arbitrary 'fairness' and only look at ofcom guidelines. quite frankly my case officer was someone who was new, her resume on linkedin showed she was a surfing instructor who then worked on a customer service helpline for a while and was pretty brainless. plus, consider who is paying ombudsman the fees associated with the consumer case. 

Also while i am on that point, if you clash with Aerial Direct and you are sure you are right, do not settle for less than £750 (if you feel they need to repay you that much or more). why? because they have to pay that out if your case goes to the ombudsman anyway.

As to the update on my case, Aerial took so long to resolve it, plus ombudsman, that my 24 month contract has just run out and i am free to renew. i acutally wonder if they intend to drag out your cmplaints process for this to happen and on the assumption you will not go to small claims to recover it? i am having a nightmare to renew with o2 DIRECTLY (7 calls to o2 and counting, they keep sending me around in circles and sent me to the store yesteeday only for a "computer says no" response - issues with my address). however i will be renewing with O2 DIRECTLY not with aerial for obvious reasons.

I recommend ignoring all calls from these dodgy agency firms like aerial direct . be sure you are dealing with o2 directly by calling them yourself and asking to speak to sales/retentions team. so many firms call nowadays saying they are from o2, but when you ask more questions or ask for an email to confirm,, they actually are agent brokering o2 contracts.

as to the small claim, you have 6 years to bring the claim, however i have put it on hold for now because i am already dealing with a lot of personal stuff. i am not like other posters on here who dont update with the resolution, or who deal directly with o2 via private message

The points i have for anyone in this situation so far (who is still within their contract) :

- stop your direct debit, pay the queried bill by credit card and do a charge back - you have 180 days to do this i think, and dispute the transaction. then resume the DD.

- put in your complaint asap to Aerial direct. They will try to fob you off, send you to o2, etc. they even told me not to bother since the manager who i called to make my complaint was the person ultimately judging it, and it would take 8 weeks to do so. do not worry with all that. if possible put your complaint in writing. do not deal with them on the phone since they will try to fob you off or close your complaint without telling you

- start collating your docs, and twiddle thumbs for 8 weeks then you are entitled to go to the ombudsman. YOU DO NOT NEED A DEADLOCK LETTER. if you get one before, you can go to the ombudsman early.

- Complain to the communications ombudsman. Again, see my experience above, they are random brainless people, they don't deal with contract law, and unhelpful unless the media get involved. Many stories available via google. But you are doing this as a box ticking exercise to show you underwent alternative dispute resolution. They might come to a good resolution however. the process is quite quick plus you can appeal if you want to. but remember, their opinion is not final and they are not lawyers, and at least from my experience, not particularly intelligent or able to reason.

-letter before action and small claims court. i will keep you posted

-

[LJ_1951]

My contract ends in 2 days time. I have taken out a NEW SIM only with O2 but Aerial are trying every trick in the book not to migrate my number.

These people are ripping us off. I recommend going direct to O2 for a much better deal and service 

[crippsy99]

Just came across this thread, and I have a very similar problem! 

Had a call at the beginning of september from Aerial direct working for o2.. normally I just dont answer random calls or just waste their time, but this time as they said they were working for o2, It seemed genuine although I made sure not to give out any personal details or anything they didn't already know..

Anyway.. I was paying £31 a month sim only with unlimited mins, text and 20gb data, and the guy on the phone offered a new sim only tarrif for £20 or £21 a month for unlimited texts, mins but 100gb a month data so said ok as seemed a good deal and it was o2. Again, I don't remember giving out any details to them that they didn't already know so they have done all this automatically their end.

Cut to the present day 3 weeks down the line.. so apparently im now on an o2 business account, even though im a regular pay monthly consumer. No issues directly YET, however I no longer have any actual access to my account or details or anything basically. The My02 app no longer works. Signing in on the website as a personal account and it either tells me its got problems finding my account, or that my only available services are o2 wifi.. Tried signing into the business side of the site then, and that tells me I don't have any services available on my account, so to contact my o2 business contact or phone a number up in business hours!

At this moment, im unable to access anything on my account.. how many mins, texts and data I actually have, how much its going to be costing me etc, and in the past couple of weeks ive not had 5g data once now so im wondering am I even on a 5g data tarriff anymore?! 

I have messaged Ariel direct on their own help form and on X/Twitter and nothing from them back..

[Oxonian]

@crippsy99 

I have not read all of this thread which I am sure contains lots of good advice. However, I would suggest that you 'phone your local council's trading standards team and see if you can interest them in your case. You'll soon get the feeling for whether or not they are likely to pursue this, although that might result in them referring the matter to the team located on Aerial's patch. 

There's nothing lost in contacting trading standards and it might just sort out your problem.  

[Djsol20]

Did you ever sign a contract? They conned my mum into a 2 year contract over the phone. When she called back to cancel she was told it was tough they have verbal agreement!